


Cast Me From Grace

by Eustacia Vye (eustaciavye)



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-09-17
Updated: 2010-09-17
Packaged: 2017-10-11 22:54:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,134
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/118040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eustaciavye/pseuds/Eustacia%20Vye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is what happens when they can't verify that the extractor is as good as he says he is.</p><p>For the inception_kink meme prompt in round 6: <a href="http://community.livejournal.com/inception_kink/9327.html?thread=16805487#t16805487">One of them dies or gets seriously injured and the other goes on a murderous rampage on the ones responsible, be it in dreams or real life. The team tries to stop her/him. EXTRA SUPER EXTREME BONUS POINTS IF ARTHUR GETS HURT AND ARIADNE KILLS PEOPLE AMIRITE.</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	Cast Me From Grace

The job had gone tits up from the start, and Ariadne placed all the blame at their extractor's feet.

Cobb had retired after the Fischer job, so Ariadne and Arthur wound up working with a rotating cast of characters that Cobb recommended. Most of them fell short of the mark, and Ariadne thought Eames or Arthur would make a better extractor than some of them. This particular one had sought them out, claiming to have been referred by Eames, who was out of commission and couldn't be reached. Yusuf hadn't heard of the guy, but that didn't mean much. Yusuf didn't often go into the field, and his chemistry experiments often reached field teams through several layers of go betweens, with considerable markup on the prices of his versions of sedatives and somnacin.

The mark was an embezzler, and the corporation needed proof. It should have been an easy enough job to chat up the mark, and the office buildings had been only too easy to build. Arthur had all the information, everything nailed down cold. He _warned_ that asshole extractor that the mark had some experience with dream defense under his belt, but he had been too confident in his skills. He had been so sure that he would find the safe with plenty of time to spare.

So of course, he fucked up and tipped off the mark that they were dreaming.

Projections came out of every room with machine guns and machetes, and they easily tore their extractor apart. Determined not to let this bungled up job be a complete failure, Arthur spun the dial on the safe and managed to find the balanced books that the mark had kept. He tore the relevant pages from the book as Ariadne threw the massive conference room doors shut. They had already been found out, so there was no point in hiding who they were anymore. A new door appeared in the wall, and Arthur ran through it, pages clutched in his hand. "Keep going!" he cried, rifling through them. "We have to try to salvage this before time is up."

Ariadne ran, creating more stairs and hallways at random to confuse the projections. They kept coming, kept shooting. Ariadne whipped a submachine gun out of nowhere and started shooting, though her aim was terrible and the kick of the gun threw off what little aim she had. "Arthur! Tell me you got it!"

"I have the account numbers, but not the names," he said, turning a corner. "The next page..."

Arthur turned the corner and found the way blocked by a dozen projections armed with guns. His Glock was in hand, and he dropped four of them easily enough. The others were still there, shooting, and he felt the bullets pass through his stomach with a sense of shock. He was supposed to be better than this. He had known what would happen, he was prepared. "Ariadne," he choked, staring down at himself, falling to his knees. She had cleared the hallway behind them, and turned the corner to see Arthur awash in blood, crumpled pages of names and numbers in hand, eight projections with pistols in front of him. They were taking aim, sure that they had time to eliminate him.

"Ariadne, run," Arthur said, blood bubbling up from his lips. He looked at her in alarm, and tried to get the names that the mark had used in his embezzlement schemes. Even one could lead to the others.

Her face was set and hard in a way that Arthur had never seen before. She aimed the submachine gun and simply started firing, advancing without any thought to her own safety. She stepped over Arthur without sparing him another glance, teeth grit. Projections kept coming from behind those eight, and Arthur barely managed to croak out a warning about the projections behind her. She threw up a thick brick wall without looking and just kept firing, kept advancing.

If he wasn't about to bleed to death, Arthur would have found it amazing to watch.

As it was, he found three names the mark had been using, committing them to memory. He reached out for Ariadne, who was shouting in anger at the projections. They kept coming, faceless suited drones with larger and larger weapons. She kept firing, the dream ammunition not running out. She was a warrior in front of him, legs shoulder width apart to give her balance, and she was protecting Arthur from the rest of the projections. Arthur struggled to move, to let her know that she could stand down. This only made him bleed out faster, and he choked on the blood bubbling up. He looked up from the blood-spattered pages clenched in his fist in time to see Ariadne lob a grenade at the oncoming projections.

She covered his body with hers as body parts flew out of the blast zone. More were coming, and even an unending stream of ammo wouldn't save them in time. "I got it," Arthur choked, unable to feel his dream fingers. The pages slipped through his deadening fingers.

Ariadne dropped a kiss onto his forehead, ignoring the blood coating her clothing. "I love you," she whispered, holding a gun to his head. "And when we wake up, I'm going to kick that fucker's ass."

Arthur laughed as she pulled the trigger, and woke in the real world. He was still sputtering, and looked around the mark's hotel room. Their extractor was still hooked up to the PASIV, jaw slack. He must have fallen deeper into the dream, then, as opposed to waking up. In another moment, Ariadne came to with a gasp. Arthur pulled the line from his wrist, wincing, and knelt beside her chair. "Feeling okay?"

"Like I wanna kill someone," Ariadne said tightly. She grasped his hand tightly as he removed her IV line with more care than he had shown his own. "Are you okay, Arthur?" There was worry in her eyes, in the way her brows furrowed. "Are you really all right? I mean, I know it isn't real, but I saw you with all that blood..." She gasped for breath and threw her arms around him, holding him tightly. "I can still see it," she whispered against his neck.

"He's still out."

"Then leave him," Ariadne said, voice tight. "He deserves to get caught if he doesn't wake in time."

"That's cold," Arthur commented as she pulled back to wipe at her eyes. Being in this business must be rubbing off on her. He wasn't sure how he felt about that.

"He got you _hurt,_ Arthur. That's all I care about."

He nodded briskly and then set to helping her disconnect the PASIV and pack it up. They had their employer to meet.

The End


End file.
